Read along in this column to see what kind of stuff I find to go along with my wild story this week. Some of it will be funny, some a bit more serious. You never know!
It's not too early to buy your tickets for next year's races. Go to www.NASCAR.com to check out 2003's schedule!
(Sponsors and start times are still being worked out, but race dates are already scheduled)
Here's that Lawrence Welk boxed set you've been looking for.
![A Musical Anthology [Box]](http://a1348.g.akamai.net/f/1348/1216/1d/photo.towerrecords.com/coverart.asp?S=1364624&X=178&Y=178)
Go ahead, you know you want it!
Richard Petty's record won't be broken any time soon - if ever. Check out www.pettyracing.com for info about the King and his enterprises!
Sterling may be out for the season (I wrote this one the day BEFORE the announcement about the broken vertebra) but his website is still hopping. It's www.sterlingmarlinfanclub.com
Highland Rim speedway can be found online at www.highlandrim.com. It's billed as "Tennessee's Fastest Piece of Real Estate". Don't know about that, but Darrell Waltrip drove there a long time ago. Check 'em out!
Believe it or not, I still know some of those guys out there on the Rim track and the Fairgrounds Speedway!
Don't go to the wrong track! Try on these Michael Waltrip earrings.
Now look at yourself in the mirror. I'll bet you didn't know you were that good looking. But I'm not splitting the check with you.
It's not the Dubya Dubya E Supehstaws, but here's a Kenny Wallace collectible!
www.fairgroundsspeedway.net is the online home of the "old" Nashville Speedway. It's still a fun track and there's a LOT of racing history there!
I think the link to the NEW Nashville Superspeedway is broken. But hey, keep trying.
October 1, 2002
Fear This...part 2!
Everyone who knows me well, and everyone who has been reading this page regularly, knows that I LOVE racing. There's nothing like the smell of fumes and the roar of the engines. This weekend, about 100,000 rabid NASCAR fans will descend upon the famed Talladega Superspeedway. Lord willing, I will be one of them.
My love of racing started early, and must've been inherited. My parents went to the races at Highland Rim Speedway, near Ridgetop, TN, every Friday night, and to the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville every Saturday night for several years. After my brother was born in 1973, we didn't go to the races much. Daddy and my brothers went some later on, but my race-watching was limited to the occasional televised event after that.
After high school, I dated a guy who liked racing, but he liked wrestling more. When I wanted to go to the races, he always talked me into going to see wrestling with him. Oh, I liked wrestling, but not that much. It struck me as funny after we broke up that when he wanted to reconcile, he asked me to go to the races with him. By that time, I was dating the man I eventually married. As much as I like racing, I'm glad I skipped that night.
After I married a rock star wannabe who preferred music videos to sports of any kind, I didn't watch racing much at all for a long time. I saw a few of the races during Richard Petty's last season. When my daughter was born in 1992, I re-discovered racing.
It took a few years to get my husband into NASCAR. He had that familiar "that's too redneck for me" attitude. After Sterling bought a Chevy dealership 15 miles from us, and then sold it and started driving a Dodge, my fanaticism with NASCAR became contagious. Now, not only do my brothers watch the races with me sometimes (but, alas, not during football season) but my husband, my mom, both of my grandparents, and even the kids watch with me too!
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NASCAR has quite a reputation as far as changes go. The rules seem to change from week to week, from situation to situation. But over thirty years, there were bound to be some changes in racing even on the local level, parallel to the changes in my own life.
Highland Rim is now called "The Rim," and a few years ago the track owners decided to clean the place up and get rid of the drinking and fighting that went on in and behind the grandstand. When I was a kid, I mainly remember us sitting with friends, having a great time watching people we knew out on the track.
My next door neighbor back then built some of the cars, and one of Daddy's best friends raced at both tracks. That friend was killed on his way home from work one night. He drove like he was at the track all the time, and it just caught up with him, I guess. We didn't have a phone back then, so another friend of Daddy's came the next morning to tell us about the tragic event.
My hometown is still pretty small. The friend who told us about the wreck had a daughter who married my brother. The widow of the driver went on to marry again, and after that marriage ended she moved into the apartment joining my grandmother's. It's a small world, but my world is even smaller!
Okay, I'm way off the racing subject now...so I'll get back on track. (HA! Pun intended!)
The old Busch races are now run at the new Nashville Superspeedway east of the city. I haven't been there yet. Every weekend they have a big event there, I've either been on call for the hospital or had plans out of town. That doesn't mean I DON'T want to go. I hope next year I can make all the big events out there.
Back then, and even now, the Fairgrounds Speedway was also full of friends and family. I remember a very young Darrell Waltrip making the scene at both tracks. I really don't remember the driver who later became my favorite - Sterling Marlin - but I DO remember his dad, Coo Coo, racing. I mean, what kid wouldn't notice a name like Coo Coo Marlin?
Speaking of kids and Coo Coo, my own kids got to see him a few weeks ago when he was inducted into the Fairgrounds Speedway Hall of Fame. My employer gave several free tickets, and I was one of the lucky ones. My kids had never been to the races before, and they loved the experience. Neither of them claim to be big fans of my driver, or his dad, but oh, they were hanging around Coo Coo like he was a member of the family. I guess it was that FOX NEWS 17 camera in his face that impressed them.
I will give Coo Coo credit though - he seemed genuinely happy to sign autographs and he was about the most easily approachable "celebrity" I've ever seen. On the other hand, DW kept his distance and didn't even get close to the fans in the stands. He smiled for the many cameras, and waved a lot, but that was about it.
I wonder what the kids will think of a 2.5 mile track. I'll bet they won't act the way I did when we FIRST started going to the races though. If one of them screams during the National Anthem, I'll probably fall out of my seat.
Yes, that was one of my biggest fears - hearing THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. My parents didn't take me to races for awhile because of my reaction to the song. I don't know why I didn't like it. I suspect it was because I associated it with either the scratchy record they played at the track, or the sound of snow on the TV set. Back then TV stations weren't on 24-7 like they are now, and at the end of the broadcast day, they would play the National Anthem. Then the snow would come on, and that loud, obnoxious noise.
The sound of static produced difficulty in my sleeping for a long time. I hated for my dad to doze off on the couch in front of the TV. I knew he wouldn't hear the static, but I would. I was well past my fear of the National Anthem when I still dreaded the end of the broadcast day. There was something final about hearing the static. Never mind that the day would start again in a few hours with the Carl Tipton Show, and all those little old guys picking their mandolins and banjos. I was afraid I'd die from watching the static, I guess.
One night when I was about ten, I woke up about 2 a.m., and heard the dreaded noise coming from the living room. I mustered up my courage and scampered to the little black and white TV, perched on top of a small red table. Without hesitation I punched the button to turn off the set. My dad woke up and hollered, "HEY! I was watching that!" I laughed - right at him - and said, "No, you weren't!" He looked at the clock, took a deep sigh, shook his head, and said, "All right."
I wouldn't have DARED to talk to him like that when he was fully awake. But when he was half asleep, he was too funny.
I still get a little antsy when I hear the sound of TV static, but the Star Spangled Banner doesn't bother me at all. Ironically, I love to sing it now. That might be kind of scary for some people!
Where do you want to go?
2001 Archive
August 28 - the first one - be gentle with me, I was just starting out!
Sept. 19 - The ""Hit Me For a Sale'' installment - Yes, I admit I was a little rough on the salespeople! Read ONLY if you are tired of having to buy stuff at parties, etc. !
Sept. 26 - Is it really in his kiss? Judge for yourself.
Oct. 7 - Is Visa really everywhere you want to be? Or where you don't want to be?
Nov. 17 - I'm much too young to be this darn old!
2002 Archive
Jan. 31 - Homesporting
Feb. 28 - Kids say the...well, you know the kind of things they say!
Apr. 3 - Your car says what you wish your mouth did!
July 3 - Happy Independence Day!
August 21 - Does absence make the heart grow fonder?
Sept. 9 - Warning! Signs may be hazardous to your health.